Syria has no preconditions for Geneva talks

Syria has no preconditions for Geneva talks
Wed May 29, 2013 22:41:37

Syria's government has no preconditions for attending planned peace talks aimed at ending the two-year-old Syrian conflict, but is awaiting more details, its foreign minister has said.

Walid al-Moualem, speaking from Damascus, told the Beirut-based television channel al-Mayadeen his government had yet to decide on the makeup of its delegation to take part in the proposed talks in Geneva.

However, after days of disagreements and divisions among the Syrian opposition they have made a decision that seems to leave having any conclusion to the talks yet ambivalent.

While the whole point of the talks is to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition side, discuss the crisis to find a solution, the opposition coalition has said that they would come to talk, only if a date is set for Mr. Assad to leave his post.

Syrian president, who enjoys a popular support in the country, has said before that he cannot betray Syrian people and leave them in a turmoil which is taking innocent lives at the hands of several terrorist groups.

Syria has been struggling with a massive bloody insurgency, backed by United States and its allies, since March 2011 and thousands of people have died in the conflict.

As the army, supported by civilian volunteers, is fighting against terrorists throughout the country, western supporters of the militant groups are mulling ways to equip them with more arms to topple the government.

Russia expressed great concern on Wednesday about US double standards regarding the crisis with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying that Washington policies undermine peace efforts.

“We need everyone to work honestly and not allow double standards – backing the conference in statements and taking steps actually aimed at undermining this suggestion in practice,” Lavrov said.

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